No offline exam for differently-abled Class 10 students, Odisha rights body directs

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) directed the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) on Monday not to proceed with the offline examination of differently-abled students of Class 10. The interim order came on a petition by rights activist Manoj Jena against the BSE's decision to not declare the results of the High School Certificate (HSC) examination of 139 differently-abled students of special schools.

The OHRC wondered why the BSE was insisting on offline-mode examination of the differently-abled students when the result of lakhs of students of general schools had been published without any examination and based on the marks secured in Classes 9 and 10. The BSE has decided to conduct the HSC examination of those who wished to take the written exam and of the 139 different-abled pupils of special school through the offline mode on July 30.

The petitioner said such a decision of the BSE was not only arbitrary, but also intended to put the differently-abled students in utter difficulty during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taking a very serious view of the matter, the commission said it did not find any justification on part of the BSE for such a decision, and termed it "surprising". Pending the final decision on the matter, it asked the BSE secretary not to proceed with the offline examination of differently-abled students till the next date of hearing.

The rights panel warned that if anything untoward happens in the matter affecting the interest of the differently-abled students, it shall be the sole risk of the BSE and the officer concerned. The OHRC posted the matter on August 6 for further hearing.

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